Labels: self released
Review by: David Giles
Killing Years strike me as all out 90s Christian hardcore worship: think Strongarm (and therefore the first two by Shai Hulud), Focused. There might be some more modern influences in there too – especially lyrically “” but to my ears the spoken/shouted delivery, the chug and the melodic lead parts (think Morning Again, not Darkest Hour) scream 90s metallic hardcore worship at me. And fuck yeah, that’s what every band about just now should be doing. In a review of Strongarm’s “Advent of A Miracle’ reissue a while ago I wrote about how embarrassing it is for “Christian hardcore’ to mean crap bands like Underoath, Norma Jean etc. etc. when the bands doing it in the 90s were so sick and its good to be able to write about a contemporary Christian hardcore band and say they’re legit.
Some utter Maddox-cheese in the lyrics here unfortunately, especially in the second track “I want to die, I want to die, I want to die. Crying, weeping” But the delivery is mean and not all the lyrics are cringe-worthy. Give this a shot if you’re into anything in the early Shai school of melodic hardcore, any of the 90s sf hardcore camp or just want to hear Christian bands that you don’t need to be riddied about liking. Good.